Letter to the editor: Wilderness meeting attendance

By JOAN POWELLWellington

Editor:

We attended a local meeting in Emery County a couple of weeks ago. It is for the purpose of Emery County presenting their ideas towards their own wilderness bill, like Washington County did, rather than having SUWA and associates presenting their views, and their views only, and we are all supposed to accept it. We already know and feel the effects of their ideas. And I dare say, we do not like it, or agree with it. But, the big question is what are you doing about it? There were 28 people in attendance of this meeting.

I would dare say, there were more people from out of the Emery County area there, than there was original people. I'm sure they are thinking, well, here we go again. This public lands battle will never end, I repeat, never end. We will always be battling for what is right. USA-ALL was there, At Your Leisure was there and even four gentlemen from Cache County were there. That was almost one-fourth of the people that were there. What does that tell you?

You have another chance for another meeting on Aug. 12. At a Family Home Evening the other night, our lesson for the night was, what happened to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence after they had the courage to stand up for what they thought was right. It was an eye opener. It was presented by Rush Limbaugh Jr. Here are a couple of quotes: "Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisioned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons, or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost all they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is still intact."

There is no more profound sentence that this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

I know we are experiencing more and more, the elimination of our rights. We are coming slowly, but surely, to a point of complete take over. We can do something about this. It involves more that just sitting in our air-conditioned homes, watching the big screen T.V.'s we all own. It means giving of your time and means to fight back against the people who will not stop at trying to find ways to eliminate the freedoms we used to enjoy. We've had a great number of people who are sacrificing their personal time and a lot of their own money to fight for what is right. Are you among them? Or are you the whiners, always thinking it's a sinking ship? And I can't do anything to help.

Well, you can, but you have to have a burning desire to do so. You can go to this next meeting in Emery County, come on, if those men from Cache Valley can come, if At Your Leisure can come, and USA-All can come, and express their desires to keep things open...you can certainly make it also.